Farewell, Alen Bibi

In what is sad news, Dalmatian winemaker, Alen Bibić of his eponymous Bibich Winery has died this week at the age of 53. This comes shortly after the recent Vino Dalmacije fair in Split where they were honoring another Croatian winemaker, Zlatan Plenković who died 10 years previously. Both Plenković and Bibić played important roles in the evolution of winemaking for the Dalmatian Coast of Croatia. Plenković was one of the first to pull the region out of the doldrums left by the collapse of the Yugoslavian winemaking regime. Bibić was one of the first from the region to export the wines in a serious manner from their place of origin and gain more recognition. Additionally, Bibić focused a tremendous amount of his time on growing the quality of the local grape varieties in Northern Dalmacija, especially the white, Debit When I first met Bibić back in 2005, his wines…